On September 30, in consequence of reductions, 170 men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions were transferred to the 3rd.
But on October 8 the establishment of the Battalion was reduced to 1,000 rank and file.
The 1st Battalion remained at Aldershot till July 27, 1857, when they proceeded by rail to Edinburgh, where they arrived on the 28th and occupied quarters in the Castle; one company (Brevet-Major Oxenden’s) being detached to Greenlaw. This detachment was relieved monthly.
The following Brigade Order was issued by Major-General the Hon. A. A. Spencer on the Battalion leaving Aldershot:
‘Major-General Spencer takes leave of Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset, the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade on their departure for Edinburgh, with much regret.
‘It is now upwards of two years since he became acquainted and connected with the Battalion in the 4th Division before Sebastopol, during which time he has had opportunities of judging of their soldierlike qualities and habits of discipline.
‘The greatest proofs of these are the success which always attended their separate important undertakings against the enemy, and also their speedy recovery from the effects of hardships they, as well as every other regiment in that army, experienced in the winters of 1854–5.
‘The Major-General now bids them farewell, and trusts it may be his good fortune to meet them again in his military career.’
On August 5 a serious fire broke out in the old town of Edinburgh, which the Battalion succeeded with great exertions in extinguishing. Their conduct on this occasion elicited the following letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset from the Lord Provost:
‘Edinburgh, August 11, 1857.